Lyoto Machida Reveals Supplement That Caused Cancellation of UFC on Fox 19 Bout

UFC middleweight Lyoto Machida on Wednesday revealed that the the supplement 7-Keto, which contains the substance DHEA, was the cause of his potential anti-doping violation.

Machida’s co-headlining bout against Dan Henderson at UFC on Fox 19 was removed from Saturday’s card after “The Dragon” admitted to using a banned substance during an out-of-competition sample collection last week. The fighter apologized for the transgression on his Facebook page Wednesday evening.

“I'm here to tell you that I was caught by surprise by this news. It has been very difficult for me. I've trained a lot for this fight, I've dedicated a lot with all my teammates,” Machida wrote. “I want to tell you that I really didn't know about this substance, so I listed it on my declaration form amongst everything else I was taking, and this substance was recently banned in 2016, so I take the blame for not knowing that, and I'd like to say I'm really sorry and apologize to my fans, teammates, and my family... I always try to play by the book, but unfortunately this happened.”

DHEA, or dehydroepiandrosterone, is on World Anti-Doping Code’s downloadable list of prohibited substances. According to Web MD, 7-Keto, or 7-keto-DHEA, is “not converted to steroid hormones such as adrogen and estrogren.” However, it can speed up the metabolism and aid weight loss as well as improve lean body mass and build muscle.

Machida, who turns 38 in May, has lost three of his last four fights. He last competed at UFC Fight Night on June 27, losing to Yoel Romero via third-round TKO. He moved from light heavyweight to middleweight late in 2013.